Rhode Island · Checked October 22, 2026
State license. Rhode Island splits roofing in two. Every contractor doing work over $500 — residential or commercial — must register with the Contractors' Registration and Licensing Board (CRLB), complete pre-registration education for residential work, and carry at least $500,000 in liability insurance. On top of registration, roofing contractors must hold a Board roofing license under R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 5-73 — with an exam, $2,000,000 of insurance and OSHA 10 for all field personnel — except that the licensing requirement does not apply to contractors applying shingles only; the Board administers the license as its Commercial Roofing License for work on nonresidential structures.
Checked in part. The load-bearing facts on this page (regime, threshold, exam) are sourced below, but one or more figures for Rhode Island could not be confirmed on a primary board or statute page in the October 22, 2026 pass. Anything unconfirmed is printed as “Not published” — never estimated. Confirm the open figures with the board before you file.
| Item | Rhode Island |
|---|---|
| Regime | Contractor registration for all roofers, PLUS a Commercial Roofing License for non-shingle commercial roofing |
| Exam | Commercial Roofing License exam (PSI) — 50 questions, open book, 120 minutes, for the Chapter 5-73 roofing license; no exam for base contractor registration — pass mark 70%. Exam details from the Board-linked exam guide checked 2026-10-22 (topics: general roofing knowledge, low-slope and steep-slope roofing, architectural metal and sheet-metal flashing, moisture and energy control, repairs and reroofing, safety). Statute alternative: an applicant previously registered as a commercial roofer in good standing who has met the Board's rules may qualify without a new exam. Exam fee reported at $180 in one guide — treated as Not published for an official fee, since no Board fee page stating it was verified. |
| Experience | No fixed years-of-experience minimum is stated in 5-73-3 — the application must include a statement of the applicant's skills, training and experience sufficient to ensure public safety, health and welfare, and the applicant must be in good standing with the Board. For base registration of residential contractors: 5 hours of Board-approved pre-registration education for new applicants (commercial-only contractors are exempt from pre- and continuing education for registration). |
| Application fee | Contractor registration $200 for two years (current CRLB pages); Commercial Roofing License $200 for two years (CRLB renewal page) |
| License / registration fee | Renewal $200 for two years for registration and for the Commercial Roofing License; $50 late fee for an expired license/registration in the CRLB pages checked |
| Total state cost | $200 for registration alone (two years); $400 in Board fees over two years if the roofer needs both registration and the Commercial Roofing License, before exam, education and insurance costs — Sources conflict: R.I. Gen. Laws §5-65-9 still states a $150 registration fee and several guides repeat $150, but the CRLB's own current pages state a $200 fee for two years with a $50 late fee. The current Board figure is used here — which is why this state is marked checked in part. Verify the amount in the Board's Viewpoint Cloud / OpenGov portal before paying. |
| Bond | No bond is required for contractor registration or the Commercial Roofing License in the Board materials checked. (Rhode Island's $20,000 bond applies to underground utility contractor licensees, a different license — do not confuse the two.) |
| Insurance minimums | Base registration: at least $500,000 liability insurance (combined single limit / certificate naming RICRLB as certificate holder), plus workers' compensation if the contractor has employees. Commercial Roofing License: $2,000,000 per occurrence general liability under R.I. Gen. Laws 5-73-3(c)(7), certificate naming the Board (RICRLB) as holder, maintained continuously from issuance, plus workers' compensation if applicable. An older Board-linked guide stating $1,500,000 contradicts the statute's $2,000,000 and the current CRLB renewal page, and was not used. Failure to file a replacement insurance certificate within 10 business days draws a $250 first-offense / $500 subsequent-offense fine. |
| Who qualifies | For the roofing license, the application must name the party or officer responsible for all roofing activities conducted in Rhode Island, and a corporation, firm, association or partnership may not engage in commercial roofing unless a licensed commercial roofer is continuously engaged in supervising its commercial roofing work and is a general partner or an officer and shareholder of the firm. If that license holder dies or is incapacitated, the firm may continue only until the next examination or as the Board allows, and never longer than 12 months. |
| Timeline | Applications (new and renewal) are submitted online through the Board's Viewpoint Cloud / OpenGov system. A specific Board-published processing time was Not published on the pages checked. Incomplete renewal applications are rejected after three months. |
| Renewal | Two-year cycle for both registration and the Commercial Roofing License ($200 renewal, $50 late fee). Registration renewal requires 5 credit hours of Board-approved continuing education during the two-year registration period (residential registrants; commercial-only contractors are exempt). Commercial Roofing License renewal requires continuing roofing education — the statute, §5-73-3(c)(5), states 12 hours per two-year cycle while a Board rules excerpt states 10 credits per year / 20 per cycle; follow the Board's current renewal page, which requires proof of 12 hours. All field personnel of a licensed roofing contractor must hold a current 10-hour OSHA safety course certificate. |
| Credential | Scope | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Contractor Registration (CRLB) — base credential | both | Required for anyone building, remodeling, repairing, demolishing or relocating residential or commercial structures. Work under $500 in labor and materials is exempt, but anyone advertising or holding out as a contractor must register regardless of job size. Unregistered contractors may not perform work or pull a permit in any of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns. |
| Commercial Roofing License (Chapter 5-73 roofing license) | commercial | Covers construction, renovation or other work on or about the roof of a nonresidential structure, including sealing, waterproofing, weatherproofing and related sheet-metal work; commercial/industrial structures do not include residential structures of four dwelling units or less (Board / exam-guide definition). Requires the roofing exam and $2,000,000 insurance — see exam and insurance fields. |
| Shingles-only roofing — registration only | residential | R.I. Gen. Laws 5-73-3(b): 'Licensing requirements shall not apply to roofing contractors applying shingles only.' A shingles-only roofer still needs CRLB contractor registration (and its $500,000 insurance and education rules) — the exemption is from the Chapter 5-73 roofing license, not from registration. |
License trigger: $500 — Total labor and materials per contract for CRLB registration (Board FAQ). A person who works under one contract where labor, materials and all other items total less than $500 does not need to register — unless they advertise or indicate to the public that they are a contractor, in which case registration is required at any size. Owner-occupants doing their own single-family work without compensated help are exempt.
Registration follows the person doing the work: contractors, remodelers and subcontractors must each be registered — a prime's registration does not cover its subs, and there is no reciprocity for out-of-state registrations or licenses. For commercial roofing, the supervising-licensed-roofer rule in classes/qualifying_party applies to the firm performing the work.
No separate city roofer license — the state registration/license is enforced through all 39 cities and towns: an unregistered or unlicensed contractor is barred from performing work or obtaining a building permit in any of them. Out-of-state applicants must also have a Rhode Island registered agent for service of process.
No specific deductible-waiver statute found. No Rhode Island statute specifically banning a roofing contractor from paying, waiving or advertising to pay an insurance deductible was found in searches on 2026-10-22. General insurance-fraud law still applies. Status is 'no specific statute found', not permission.
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